Social Studies - Advanced Professional Practice

This programme is tailored to meet the needs of graduates from a wide variety of backgrounds who wish to continue their professional development. Addressing today's most pressing social challenges demands an ability to understand how research, policy and practice are critically important in shaping effi cient and effective work based activities. The aim of the programme is to develop a critical practice path that is relevant and signifi cant for graduates already working across care, education, health, welfare and related areas and new graduates who wish to further develop their skills prior to embarking on a career in their chosen field.

Students will learn through a combination of:

• Interaction and exchange of experiences and perspectives with a diverse peer group, a learning community, in which participants enlighten, challenge and motivate each other;

• Students will work with staff whose role is to stimulate learning, facilitate, challenge and question as well as provide specialist knowledge;

• Inputs from practitioners with national and international experience;

• Learning activities and assessments that require participants to reflect on their own practice and experiment with new approaches;

• Learning activities and assessments that enable the participant to analyse and evaluate their own organisations and to compare and contrast with best practice elsewhere;

• Live organisational projects to provide a realism that prepares participants for acting in a context characterised by complexity, continuous change and uncertainty;

• Group working that promotes learning about diversity and the interactive attributes of communication, interpersonal and teamworking skills;

• A range of teaching and learning methods catering for different learning styles;

Entry requirements

Applicants are required to have a minimum of a 2:2 Honours Bachelor Degree (level 8). Ideally the primary degree should be in healthcare, social studies, education, early childhood, youth and community practice or a similarly practice-based discipline or equivalent professional qualifi cations. NOTE: Overseas candidates who have not studied their degree though English are required to achieve a TOEFL score of at least 550 or IELTS score of at least 6.0.

Duration

This programme will be delivered part-time over 2 years commencing September 2018.